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Thermostat housing backing plate

I know many of you, like me, have a thermostat housing that seems to warp and leak just by looking at the damn thing. So I got on the horn with Charles over at MP and asked what he thought about making a plate that can be welded onto the housing to stiffen it up. He doesn't have a price yet, but I wanted to get some feelers out to gauge interest in a product like this.

Chances are whoever you are going to get to weld the plate without warping or creating a pinhole leak will be able to make the plate for you as well. Exhaust welds leak all the time. Maybe you can get charles to do an exchange type of setup.

If it was that easy or that cheap, i would already have had one made. All the machine shops I spoke quoted a starting price of around $150 for a one off piece like this, if they even had time to make it. Most of that cost is in creating a program for the mill. That's why I contacted Charles about a group buy. New housings aren't available, and even if they were they would still be prone to warping due to the thin metal used. This should readily solve the problem. As for leaking, a welder with any skill shouldn't have a problem.

i've been without internet for the part few days, but I spoke with Charles and he's saying the part would be about $20 if we had 30 people involved. I'd say with fudge factor, the most it would be is about $30.